The sound of silence

I love the sounds of a facial: The swish of a jar being unscrewed; the clink of ingredients being mixed in a bowl; the creak of the magnifying lamp being pulled toward my face. But the one sound I cannot stand during a facial? The aesthetician saying, "I'll just leave you here to rest while the mask does its work." Then the click of the door. Then silence. When I hear this sequence of sounds, I think unkind thoughts: Are you kidding me? Shouldn't you be rubbing my feet or something? So when I was having The Golden Door Facial at Rancho La Puertathis past week and Mona, the aesthetician, was applying the mask (two actually: a clay one for my oily T-zone and a green tea one for my dry cheeks), I started to get antsy: Is she going to desert me? When the masks were on, I heard one of the most beautiful facial sounds I've ever heard: "Now I'm going to massage your shoulders and head," said Mona. And that sound is reason number 468 that I return to Rancho La Puerta every year.

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